Moose in training

©2012 Lydia Hinshaw 

 

Moose calf tests the water

. . . gets braver. . .

 

. . .and says hi to Mom

 MANY GLACIER VALLEY, MT -- On our most recent days off, we lucked into a campsite at the Many Glacier Campground, a popular base for hiking and wildlife viewing on the east side of Glacier National Park.

 This is an area I know well, because I spent the first summer of my retirement here back in 2005.

 After we parked the Magic Bus, we set out for Fishercap Lake, a great place to  see moose, who graze on the aquatic plants beneath the shallow water.

 Sure enough, there was a cow moose slurping away before an audience of a dozen or more enraptured photographers and tourists.

 She wasn't far from the shore at all, and occasionally she would look at us spectators without any particular concern or even interest.

 We'd been there for an hour or more before her calf appeared, standing at the water's edge on impossibly long legs.

 Junior was reluctant to go into the water. He or she would wade in to where the water barely covered his hooves, and then turn around and return to the beach.

 As he deliberated over whether to join his mother, he made faint baa-ing sounds, more like a lamb than a 200-pound "baby."

 Finally the little guy, complaining at every step, waded farther out, and finally approached his mother.  He tried a few bites of the water-weeds, but didn't seem to like them much.

 Mostly he just stood there, up to his shoulders, perhaps wondering if wading around in freezing water is what being a moose is all about.  (Answer:  Yes, and you'll learn about blizzards in another month or two.)

 Eventually we abandoned this pleasant scene to hike another mile up to the next lake, where there were tourists but no moose.

 Later, on the way back to the campground, we ran into one of the photographers who had been shooting near us.

 He said both cow and calf had finally left the lake, and Junior had wasted no time in attaching himself to a nipple for a meal of nice warm milk.